CBSE Class 12 History

Chapters: 4

1. Themes in Indian History Part I

Bricks, Beads and Bones: The Harappan Civilisation · Kings, Farmers and Towns: Early States and Economies · Kinship, Caste and Class: Early Societies · Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings: Cultural Developments

Bricks, Beads and Bones: The Harappan Civilisation – The Harappan (Indus Valley) Civilisation had some of the first cities in South Asia, about 2600 to 1900 BCE. Its cities had a raised citadel, a lower town, grid streets and covered drains. People made beads, shell and metal goods, used standard stone weights and stamp seals, and traded as far as Oman and Mesopotamia. Its script is still not read. Archaeologists of the ASI found it in the 1920s; historians rebuild its life from bricks, beads, bones and seals.
Kings, Farmers and Towns: Early States and Economies (c. 600 BCE - 600 CE) – Between about 600 BCE and 600 CE, sixteen large states (mahajanapadas) formed in north India. Magadha became the strongest and grew into the Mauryan empire under Chandragupta and Ashoka. Later came the Kushanas, Satavahanas and Guptas, who used grand titles and praise poems. Farmers were pushed to grow more, land grants spread, and towns traded using coins. Much of this is known from inscriptions, first read by James Prinsep in 1838.
Kinship, Caste and Class: Early Societies (c. 600 BCE - 600 CE) – Early Indian society was shaped by family ties (kinship), rules of marriage, the varna order and many jatis, and rules on property. Brahmanas wrote these rules in Sanskrit texts like the Dharmasutras and the Manusmriti, but real life often differed, as Buddhist texts and inscriptions show. The Mahabharata, a long epic changed over about 1,000 years, is a key source, made easier to study by a critical edition begun in 1919.
Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings: Cultural Developments (c. 600 BCE - 600 CE) – From about the 6th century BCE, many thinkers questioned old ideas and rituals. Mahavira taught Jainism with ahimsa at its centre; the Buddha taught the middle path and founded the sangha. Their ideas spread through texts, monasteries and stupas like the great stupa at Sanchi, whose carvings use symbols for the Buddha. Later, Mahayana Buddhism, Vaishnavism and Shaivism grew, with images and early temples.

2. Themes in Indian History Part II

Through the Eyes of Travellers · Bhakti-Sufi Traditions · An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara · Peasants, Zamindars and the State

Through the Eyes of Travellers: Society Seen by Visitors – Between the 10th and 17th centuries many visitors wrote about India. Three are the most famous. Al-Biruni came from Uzbekistan in the 11th century and wrote Kitab-ul-Hind in Arabic. He studied Sanskrit books and explained the caste system. Ibn Battuta came from Morocco in the 14th century and wrote the Rihla. He loved the busy cities, the fast postal system and new things like coconut and paan. Francois Bernier, a French doctor, came in the 17th century to the Mughal court. He compared India with Europe and said the king owned all land, which later historians found was not fully true. Their books are useful, but we must read them carefully because each saw India through his own eyes.
Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Belief and Devotion – From about the 8th to the 18th century, many people in India turned to a loving, personal kind of worship. In bhakti, a devotee (bhakta) loves one god directly, without costly rituals. The Tamil Alvars (for Vishnu) and Nayanars (for Shiva) sang in their own language and questioned caste. Basavanna's Virashaivas in Karnataka rejected caste and rituals. Sufis were Muslim mystics who sought closeness to God through love, a teacher (pir) and music. The Chishti silsila became very popular. In the north, Kabir and Guru Nanak prayed to a God without form, while Mirabai loved Krishna in human form. Their songs and poems changed how people believed and are still sung today.
An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara (Hampi) – Vijayanagara, 'city of victory', was the capital of a big South Indian empire from 1336 to 1565. Its ruins are at Hampi in Karnataka, on the Tungabhadra river. The city had rings of strong walls, farms inside the walls, a clever system of tanks and canals, a royal centre with a huge platform, and a sacred centre with giant temple gateways. Foreign visitors like Abdur Razzaq, Domingo Paes and Fernao Nuniz wrote about its wealth and markets. After the battle of Talikota in 1565 the city was left. In 1800 Colin Mackenzie began mapping the ruins, and today historians use buildings, inscriptions and travellers' notes together.
Peasants, Zamindars and the State: Agrarian Society under the Mughals – In the 16th and 17th centuries, about 85 percent of people in the Mughal empire lived in villages. Peasants grew food and cash crops, helped by rain, wells and canals. Villages had a panchayat led by a headman. Above the peasants were zamindars, local landholders who collected revenue and had forts and soldiers. The Mughal state took land revenue, usually about one-third of the crop, measured and recorded by officials. The Ain-i Akbari by Abul Fazl is our main source. It sorts land into four types by how often it is farmed and lists what each area should pay. New crops like maize and tobacco and a flow of silver from world trade changed village life.

3. Themes in Indian History Part III

Colonialism and the Countryside · Rebels and the Raj · Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement · Framing the Constitution

Colonialism and the Countryside – The East India Company wanted steady money from land. In Bengal it made the Permanent Settlement (1793): zamindars paid a fixed sum for ever. The sum was high, many zamindari estates were auctioned, and rich village farmers called jotedars grew strong. In the Rajmahal hills the Company pushed Santhal plough farmers into land used by the Paharias, marked the Damin-i-Koh in 1832, and the Santhals rose in revolt in 1855–56. In the Bombay Deccan the ryotwari system took revenue straight from the peasant; a cotton boom (1861–65) ended in a crash, debt grew and the Deccan riots broke out in 1875. We know this mostly from official archives such as the Fifth Report (1813), Buchanan's survey and the Deccan Riots Commission report, which must be read with care.
Rebels and the Raj: The Revolt of 1857 – On 10 May 1857 sepoys at Meerut rose and marched to Delhi, where they made the old Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar their leader. The revolt spread from cantonment to cantonment in a similar pattern, which shows planning and communication. Awadh became the strongest centre because its annexation in 1856 hurt the nawab's court, the taluqdars, the sepoys and the peasants together. Leaders such as Nana Sahib, Rani Lakshmibai, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Kunwar Singh and Shah Mal led local risings. Rebel proclamations spoke of Hindus and Muslims fighting together in the Mughal emperor's name. The British crushed the revolt with harsh laws and troops. Paintings, cartoons and prints later showed the revolt in very different ways: British images praised British heroes, while nationalist images praised rebels as freedom fighters.
Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement – Gandhiji came back to India in 1915. At Banaras Hindu University in 1916 he said Indian nationalism must include ordinary peasants and workers. Local satyagrahas at Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad made him known. The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22) brought huge numbers of people into the struggle, and Gandhiji became a people's leader through khadi, the charkha, simple living and a language people understood. The Salt March of 1930 began Civil Disobedience; talks followed at the Round Table Conferences and in the Gandhi-Irwin Pact (1931). In 1942 Quit India called on the British to leave. Freedom came in 1947 with the pain of Partition, and Gandhiji spent his last months working for peace until he was killed on 30 January 1948. Historians study all this through speeches, newspapers, letters, autobiographies and police reports, each with its own point of view.
Framing the Constitution – India's Constitution was made by the Constituent Assembly between December 1946 and November 1949, in years of hope and violence. The Assembly's members were chosen by the provincial legislatures. It met in 11 sessions over 165 days, and its debates were printed so the public could follow. Nehru moved the Objectives Resolution; Dr B.R. Ambedkar led the Drafting Committee; Dr Rajendra Prasad presided. Big debates were about how to protect minorities (the Assembly rejected separate electorates but kept reserved seats for Dalits and tribal people), how much power to give the Centre and the states (a strong Centre with three lists), and which language the nation should use (Hindi in Devanagari as the official language, with English continuing for 15 years). The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950.

4. Map Work

Map work of the themes

Class 12 History Map Work: Finding Places Through Time – The map question in Class 12 History carries 5 marks. You get an outline map and must mark and name places. The places come from the themes you study: Harappan cities, the 16 mahajanapadas, Ashoka's inscriptions, Buddhist sites, Vijayanagara and Mughal places, and centres of 1857 and the national movement. The trick is simple. Remember each place by its river, its coast or its neighbour. Group places by age. Then marking becomes quick and sure.
India Map Work for Class 12 Geography (People and Economy) – In Class 12 map work you locate and label places from the India People and Economy book on an outline map of India: crop areas, mines, oil fields, industrial centres, ports and airports. Learn a key of symbols, learn each place with a clue (near which coast, river or plateau), and practise marking it neatly with its name. Only an official outline map is used; we never draw or argue about borders.
World Map Work (Class 12): Farming Regions, Railway Terminals, Ports, Airports and Waterways – In Class 12 world map work you mark human-geography features on an outline map. Gathering happens in thick forests and cold lands; nomadic herding in dry lands; commercial ranching, extensive grain farming and mixed farming in temperate grasslands and developed plains. Four transcontinental railways cross continents from coast to coast. Big sea ports sit on coasts; big airports can be anywhere. The Suez and Panama canals are short cuts between oceans; the Rhine and the St Lawrence carry ships deep inland.